Yes, it is indeed a terrible situation and I don't really have much to say about it. I keep my phone in my hand, opened to his Facebook page and news stories, checking it hourly hoping for some good news. I only connected with him because of this project - had I never built this instrument I never would have met him face to face. We worked together several times, right up to the day he went missing, and he really deserves all the credit for the theater voicing as well as requesting that I put a sostenuto kick switch on the console (which I did, just for him).

I have another theater organist in the wings waiting to step in if needed. I think we are going use that time to honor Tim. Even if by some miracle he's still with us, we will keep him front and center on the program.

How sad! I've been watching the forum every day for the past week, and when there was no news from Drew, I was beginning to hope no news was good news. Alas, I was wrong. My condolences to Drew and all those involved with his project, and to Tim's family. I do plan to attend the dedicatory recital. Ken Zink

Something seems strange here. For over three years many of us have followed Drew's posts with fascination. I dare say 27 pages is the longest topic of all! But now in the wake of Tim's death, the "open conversation" has fallen silent. In the past week only Cooky and I have posted anything at all expressing our sympathy. I would have expected an outpouring of sympathy from the Hauptwerk community which in so many ways is so supportive. I would also like to hear from Drew just to let us know how's he's faring--I can only imagine he must be feeling very distraught. Anyway, I want Drew to know that I really care for him, and I do hope others will join in. Ken Zink

It has, indeed, been an extremely difficult few weeks. Tim's disappearance and untimely death has been devastating to many. We at GUMC are thankful for what Tim did to help us with this project. His voicing abilities were astounding. I have been in contact with his closest friends and family. I do have, on our music department website, the last recordings Tim ever made - which happened to be on this organ.

We will be making a small acknowledgment and "thank you" to Tim during the June 22nd program. I have been in touch with Tim's family and they are aware of the event and said they would try to make it.

Under the circumstances, I've also had to find another theater organists to play the program. Luckily, Indy has a large theater organ presence, so Justin Nimmo - who works with Carlton Smith - will be our featured theater organist on the program.

I just wanted to share a clip from the local news station about the organ and concert on Saturday. Two local papers are running stories tomorrow and Friday, and I will try to share those as well if possible.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Please excuse the video quality - they never put it on their website, so I had to cheat and re-record it off the TV.

We had the pleasure (and I don't use that word lightly) of being at the very well attended Greenwood UMC Grand Organ Tour concert. The event lived very well up to, and maybe exceeded expectations,. Well worth the 6+ hour trip. As a take away impression, I would say if this installation could be considered to be a poster "child" example for Hauptwerk, this "child" is all grown up and matured. To this end, if a visual included a pipe facade enclosure of the 2 speaker areas, no doubt many would go away quite convinced they had heard one or more real pipe organs.

As Drew mentioned, there aren't many instruments that could reproduce the variety of organs heard during this program. This musical variety was well complimented by the artistic quality of the performing organists.

While the square footage of the church auditorium is significant, due to the overall height, there is a lot of space to fill with sound. In that regard, during portions of some selections, you had to really listen to hear the very soft passages. All of the sound was clean, clear and distortion free including the much louder parts.

Part of the "amazing" would be to consider the relatively short amount of time it took Drew and "company" to make this plan happen and become what it is. Congratulations big time, well done.

BTW, I did suggest to Drew that sometime in the future he should include a picture of the relatively tiny rack that is the "heart" of this instrument.

Rgds,Ed

Last edited by engrssc on Sun Jun 23, 2019 2:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Thank you Ed, and Ken for joining me for this event! (As well as other forum visitors!) I was so flattered and honored to have you both in attendance. The Hauptwerk community has been an INVALUABLE resource through this entire project and the results speak for themselves! We had a WHOPPING 300 (give or take a few) people in attendance. I was expecting 75-100. The best part of the whole thing was that I had never met at least 75% of the attendees before. That's the power of what Hauptwerk, the organ, and good music can do!

Many people showed up for the concert keen to know more about Hauptwerk. I had several folks come talk to me about wanting to do something similar in their church. The instrument is always open to everyone to come see, hear, and play. We will certainly be hosting more concerts very soon. This was so successful that I am already thinking of what to do next.

This entire concert was recorded - 5 camera locations, and surround sound audio, and those recordings, plus a documentary/interview film (to be shot in a couple weeks) will all be edited and turned into a full-length video in the weeks to come, and will be made available to anyone who wants it. I am hoping to make it available for download from the church music department website: http://www.greenwoodumcmusic.org but if you would like a physical copy, please message me and I will see to it that you get one. We will NOT be charging for these, but do remember that donations help us to keep the instrument in good condition, purchase more sets, and most importantly, allow us to hire some GREAT performers for future concerts.

Any and all donations to the organ fund stay 100% with the instrument and aren't used elsewhere.